A Few Lexical Items that are Used in Aviation - Literature review Example

Research Project on Aviation Name Institutional affiliation Course Table of Contents Literature review 3 Compounding 3 Affixation 7 Prefixation 7 Suffixation 7 Blending 8 Clipping 9 Neologism 10 Research questions 10 Research Hypotheses 11 Research Variables 11 Research population and sample 12 Research implementation 13 Conclusions and recommendations 14 References 15 Appendix 1 16 Appendix 2 17 Introduction Communication is an important process in any human activity. Diction, the word choice by the participants in a speech activity to a great extent affects the effectiveness of communication. It therefore follows that the speakers must converse in a language that is intelligible to other participants if effective communication is to be achieved. Every other technical or professional field has a list of defining terminology that is used in the profession. In linguistics, such words can be subjected to study in order to ascertain the technique employed in order to come up with such words. Word formation can be contrasted with semantic change in such a scenario, although the difference between the two processes is difficult to define, as a novel lexical item qualifies to be considered as a novel word realized from the initial lexical item, and there could be a point of overlap in form. This research proposal seeks to find out a few lexical items that are used in aviation, and ascertain whether the words conform to the norms of word formation processes, as posed by the research questions, as well as ascertain the research hypotheses, and determine the validity of the research variables. Literature review Various ways are used to generate English lexical items. Most of the words conform to these ways of word formation. The common ways of forming English words used in the field of aviation are herein discussed. Compounding Hamawand (2011) says that in compounding, lexical items are formed by way of joining 2 or more words (root morphemes), and the derivatives are compound words or compounds. Native compounds derive from native roots, which are originally English and they are always identified as free morphemes. These free morphemes have the ability to stand alone semantically. For instance; Airport Air cargo Arrival area Such compounds are made from words that occur in speech independent of the completing morphemes. Airport is a combination of Air and port, just like Air cargo and Arrival Area are made out of Air and cargo, and Arrival and Area respectively. As opposed to English native roots, Latin and Greek native roots do not necessarily stand alone. This implies that compound words with words of Latin or Greek origin are realized as bound morphemes which cannot stand alone. This feature of bound roots retains in English compounds that are made out morphemes of either Latin or Greek origin, through borrowing. Example Photograph is derived from two roots, photo and graph. However, According to Hamawand (2011), compound words can be represented in three various ways orthographically. They can be written with a hyphen separating the lexical items, a space separating the elements or be combined as a single lexical item. However, the form in which the compound is represented does not any effect on the status of the word as a compound. Examples; Air cargo - Separated by a space, to denote cargo that is transported by an aeroplane. Take-off - separated by a hyphen, to refer to the action of the plane departing from the ground. Runway - written as a single word, and denotes the section of the airport where planes either land or take-off. However, there is an emerging trend in writing of compounds as a single word, without either a space or hyphen (Hilpert, 2013). Compound words also do take their elements from a varying word classes. Although most compounds take the noun-noun format, such as airport, other words can take other forms as verb-noun or adjective-noun, such as training aircraft and magnetic course, respectively. Compound words can as well be made up of more than three elements. Example; Training aircraft uses training, air and craft. Other compound words are made either out of rhyming words or repetition of the same word. Example; Pan-pan – this denotes a radio call for urgency on an international level. The second element of the compound is a duplicate of the first element. Acronyms A word formed through this mode is basically made of initial letters of a phrase. Example; ACI- Airports Council International Native acronyms can be read as words and not separate alphabetical letters which make up the word. Acronyms can at times be made out of part or whole of a syllable, as opposed to the conventional single initial letter. Example; Radar – formed from part of the syllable in the word RAdio, and initial letters in the words Detection, And and Ranging, Other acronyms defy the conventional English spelling system where letters combine to form a single readable word. In these acronyms, the word is read as per the separate letters that make it up. Example; RAF is read as separate alphabetical elements, and stands for Rectified Air Force. Other illustrations of acronyms commonly used in aviation include; PIREP – Pilot Report NM- Nautical Miles Pax – passengers GS – Glideslope FN – Fleet Number Acronyms have become a popular mode of communication in sending emails, memos and text messages. These modes of communication are noted for their common feature of brevity, thus users find it necessary to abbreviate words. Affixation Muehleisen (2010) argues that affixation entails the addition of an affix or more affixes to the main root in order to form a new word, which often ends in a different word class category. For instance, the word affixation is derived from the root affix and the affix –ation. Affixes can either be put word initially, a concept known as prefixation, or word finally, referred to as suffixation. Example; Prefixation Biplane is derived from addition of the prefix Bi- to the root plane to realize biplane. Suffixation Manufacturer is derived from addition of suffix -er to the root manufacture. Landing Blending Blending stands as one of the English speakers’ popular process of word formation, and it demands creativity on the speaker if they are to use blending to generate new words, as it requires that they take part of the words to be combined and join them to form a new word (Plag, 2003). The merging of these word parts is not based on the structure of the morphemes, but rather their phonetic structure. A word that is generated through the process of blending is referred to as a blend. In most times, word formation takes the pattern of combining affixes or roots along their final positions (Bauer, 2004). This assumption implies that an affix can only be added to another if the former has ended. The morphemes will thus follow such a definite pattern that their boundaries are distinctly identifiable and they don’t overlap. However, blending works in such a way that part of a lexical item gets stitched onto another word, with little regard for the position where a morpheme comes to an end and where the other starts. Examples; The blend Medevac is derived from joining part of Medical and part of the word evacuation. Med stands as a recognizable blend, as it an abbreviated form of medical, while evac is not recognizable as a complete morpheme. Blends can be understood as effective mergers between content and from. Their meanings carry the meanings of both blends, and the blends do create a merger of the meaning of the blends forming a new lexical item with a new meaning (Muehleisen, 2010). Therefore, Medevac refers to military evacuation of casualties for medical attention in hospitals, by air. Avionics is a blend derived from Aviation and electronics, while Shanwick is derived from Shannon, an ATC centre in Ireland, and Prestwick, found in Scotland. Shanwick thus refers to the body responsible for control of traffic in a section of Europe. The earliest words to be generated out of blending were realized in the nineteenth century, with Carroll Lewis as the father of blending. Lewis did realize words through coinages and wordplay. Example; Lewis did derive the blend slithy from the words lithe and slimy. Some of the earliest blends have survived to modern English, although slight semantic changes to these blends may abound. The field of aviation also uses blends realized in the age of modern English. Smog is a blend from smoke and fog, a word used in aviation to refer to weather conditions in which there seems to be much smoke and fog that might hinder clear vision. Clipping Clipping as a process of word formation works as a form of abbreviation of words to realize new words with similar semantic function as the initial word (Bauer, 2004). A section of a word is cut off, or clipped, and the remaining part becomes the new word. Example The word plane is a realization of clipping as a process of word formation from the original longer word, aeroplane. The word part aero is chopped off, and plane remains to carry the same meaning as the initial word aeroplane, both referring to a device powered by an engine with the ability to fly. Neologism Neologism is the formation of totally new words. In view of Rossing (2004), the profession of aviation has seen the vocabulary of English expand as a result of introduction of totally new lexical items that were not in existence. For instance, mayday is a radio call for distress on international scale, which signifies danger posed to those on board, and as a call for immediate help. The word derives from a phrase in French, “Venez m’aider”, which was a call for help from a French pilot to an English counterpart, who picked it as mayday. Research questions In order to come up with the information on the word formation processes that can be employed in understanding the structure of the terminology of aviation, the following research questions were derived. 1. What are the possible word formation processes used in realization of the aviation terminology? 2. How effective are the word processes in explaining the word forms used in aviation? To obtain responses to these questions, it was necessary that research be carried out, and reference be made to past written sources on the topic of aviation terminology and the relevant word formation processes. It also was necessary to have interviews with two individuals who are knowledgeable in the aviation industry. Research Hypotheses The research hypotheses in this project show the relationship between the variables being measured and whose relationship is to be ascertained. Two main hypotheses are developed and they hold that; 1. Any English word must have a positive relationship and explanatory statement for its apparent origin or formation, be it a native or loan word. 2. Most of the terminologies used in the aviation industry conform to the word formation processes just like other words that are present in the jargon of other professions and fields. The hypotheses’ validity can only be proved through in depth research and evaluation of the findings of the research practice. Research Variables The research variables being measured by this research project are the vocabulary used in the aviation industry against the main word formation processes that are used in the generation of the English words. The words act as the dependent variables, since they rely on given word formation processes in order to be generated as English words. The processes of word formation stand as the independent variables since they are not affected by any factor, rather they affect the manner and argument for the generation of English words used in the aviation industry. Research population and sample It is necessary to perform an investigation on the individuals with expertise in aviation in order to have insight into the view of the total population with regard to the vocabulary usage to in aviation. An interview was conducted on two aviation agents, a pilot and an air hostess. The pilot asserts that there is much difference between aviation language and language used in other discourses, other that the vocabulary. This implies that therefore, the language used in aviation indeed does follow the rules of word formation in English, thus much difference cannot be noted between the vocabularies. He further stresses that the aviation language is intelligible if learnt formally. To him, language usage is dependent on the need. At work he uses the sophisticated aviation language, while he uses casual language for casual communication. He also notes that the future of aviation language is characteristic of development due to increased innovation. This implies that the novel words expected to be generated will have to conform to the word formation standards. The air hostess also is in agreement with the general hypotheses of the research project. Having worked for six years, she confirms that the aviation language is intelligible to aviation experts, and unintelligible to the non-experts. She further reveals that the difference between the languages is the degree of specification. However, casual and aviation language can describe similar events, confirming that the structure of the words is similar. She says that it is possible for the public to understand this sophisticated language as a result of interaction with the experts. According to her, the future of aviation language is expected to be characteristic of simplicity due to interaction with other fields. In this way, borrowing and adaptation of words field to field is expected. Both interviewees therefore help to give insightful information that can help respond to the research questions. Their information reveals that the language of aviation is similar to other languages. This implies that the vocabulary used in aviation conforms to the rules that guide the formation of new English words. The learnability of the aviation language also confirms the effectiveness of the word formation processes applicable in the formation of the aviation vocabulary. Research implementation The implementation of the research has to undertake a synthesis of the results obtained from the past research as discussed in the literature review as well as information from the interview. The vocabulary used in aviation, as illustrated with the selected terminology confirms that the vocabulary was generated with special attention given to the techniques of word formation. It is possible to argue for these words as conforming to the guidelines of word formation as they are in agreement with processes of word formation. The interviews further confirm that the terminology used in aviation is similar in structure and make up to the terminology used in other forms of discourse. Therefore, it is apparent that Most of the English words do conform to the agreed standard word formation processes, whether in aviation or any other field. The purpose of language does not affect the effectiveness of the process of word formation, neither does it affect the acceptability of the word as an English word. Affixation, neologism, compounding and blending thus stand as the common methods used in the derivation of acceptable English words. Conclusions and recommendations In conclusion, it is evident that English words conform to the guidelines of word formation, as seen in the selected words used in aviation. However, there are problems of difficulty in understanding the meaning of the terminology of aviation. The aviation industry also seems to be operating within a limited number of words. These difficulties can be lifted through the following recommendations; 1. The aviation experts should come up with acceptable equivalents of the terminologies that are easily intelligible. 2. The experts also should develop equivalents to these terminologies through borrowing and analogy as is the case in other fields. 3. The vocabulary of aviation should be expanded through inclusion on more words that are acceptable. References Bauer, L. (2004). English word-formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hamawand, Z. (2011). Morphology in English: Derivational and compound word formation in cognitive grammar. London: Continuum. Hilpert, M. (2013). Constructional change in English: Developments in allomorphy, word formation, and syntax. Muehleisen, S. (2010). Heterogeneity in word-formation patterns: A corpus-based analysis of suffixation with -ee and its productivity in English. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: John Benjamins Pub. Co. Plag, I. (2003). Word-formation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rossing, A. G. H. (2004). Aviation terminology, definitions and abbreviations. The Hague: Sdu Uitgevers. Appendix 1 Interview with Pilot 1. For how long have you provided services in the aviation industry? - I have been providing my services as a pilot for over ten years now. I have worked both in England and France. 2. How would you describe the vocabulary used in the aviation industry? - The language used in the aviation industry is just a language like any other that could be used in medicine, education, business and other fields. The distinguishing feature is that the language is tailored to specifically serve the needs within the aviation industry. 3. What is the relationship between aviation language and the language used in common communication? - My view is that these languages both serve a common purpose effectively, and that is communication. 4. In your view, is the public well familiar with aviation terminology? - I could say, No! This is because aviation language needs one to undertake a formal study of aviation so as to understand the language. 5. Which language do you find yourself comfortably communicating in? Common language or the sophisticated Aviation language? - The language I use is situation-dependent. At work I use the appropriate aviation jargon, while in casual communication I use casual language. 6. What is your view on the aviation language in future? - The aviation language is to develop more complex with time, since humans are discovering more and more. Appendix 2 Interview with Air Hostess 1. For how long have you provided services in the aviation industry? - I have been serving as an air hostess since I got my college degree six years ago. 2. How would you describe the vocabulary used in the aviation industry? - The language could be both intelligible and unintelligible. It all depends on who are involved in speech, experts in aviation find it easy to understand, as opposed to those in other fields. 3. What is the relationship between aviation language and the language used in common communication? - Common communication uses casual language, while aviation language is highly specific. However, the two languages can easily describe a similar event, the difference being the vocabulary used. But the structure of the words basically looks similar. 4. In your view, is the public well familiar with aviation terminology? - The public is fairly informed with regard to the aviation terminology. This is so as aviation as an industry serves the public, and from time to time, the public gets to fly thus they have a chance to interact with the experts. A good number of people can understand aviation language. 5. Which language do you find yourself comfortably communicating in? Common language or the sophisticated Aviation language? - To me, I find it easy to use both languages. At one time I need to talk to the experts, and another time I have to converse with the clients flying. 6. What is your view on the aviation language in future? - In my view, the language used in aviation is set to be simplified since there is a growing connection between other fields and aviation, and the public. Read More